Oct. 23, 2013
|

The identity of the girl called Maria is unknown. / Hellenic Police via Getty

by John Bacon, USA TODAY

by John Bacon, USA TODAY

A Kansas City couple whose daughter disappeared from their home more than two years ago are among hopeful parents lining up to find out if a girl found in a gypsy camp in Greece is their daughter.

Lisa Irwin was 10 months old when Deborah Bradley and Jeremy Irwin say someone broke into their home and kidnapped Lisa. Now the family has made contact through the local FBI office, which contacted Greek authorities through governmental channels, John Picerno, the attorney for Deborah Bradley and Jeremy Irwin, told The Kansas City Star.

"We are waiting to hear back from law enforcement," Picerno said Tuesday.

About 10 cases of missing children are "being taken very seriously" in connection with the suspected abduction of a girl by a gypsy, or "Roma," couple in Greece, a spokesman for a Greek children's charity told CNN.

"They include children from the United States, Canada, Poland and France," said Panagiotis Pardalis of the Smile of the Child charity.

The unidentified girl, called Maria, was found during a drug-related raid by police last week. Authorities became suspicious because the girl was more fair than her parents. DNA tests showed she was not their biological child as they had claimed.

Eleftheria Dimopoulou, 40, and Christos Salis, 39, are accused of falsifying documents, and the hunt for the real parents is on.

In Kansas City, Picerno tells the Star that Lisa's parents are following every possible lead and have not given up hope of finding her.

Medical tests indicate that Maria is 5 or 6 years old, Paralis said. Lisa Irwin would turn 3 years old next month.

Lisa disappeared Oct. 4, 2011. Her mother was asleep when her father came home late from work to find the the front door and a bedroom window open and their daughter missing from her crib. A witness said he saw a man carrying a baby nearby.

Police say their investigation continues, but few tips are coming in, the Star says.

The Greek case has also led to the seizure of another Roma child, this one in Ireland.

The Irish Times reports that police went to a home west of Dublin to investigate a tip involving a child about 6 or 7 years old. Their concerns were deepened after the couple gave a date of birth for the child in early 2006 at Dublin's Coombe Hospital, which had no record of the birth.

The child was taken from the couple pending further investigation and DNA tests.